Cutting attachment for cigarette-machines



F. C. SCHOFIELD.

CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 4, |918. 1,348,057, Patented July 27, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

F. C. SCHOFIELD.

CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES..

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4. 1918.

Patented J u1;r 27, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. C. SCHOFIELD.

CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4,19I8. 1,348,057. Patented July 27, 1920 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

IIII

@Moine/1j UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK C. SCHOFIELD, 0F SALEM, VIRGINIA., ASSIGNOR TO COMAS CIGARETTE MACHINE COMPANY, 0F SALEM, VIRGINIA, A. CORPORATION 0F VIRGINIA. l

CUTTING ATTACHMENT" roza CIGARETTE-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented .Tuiy 27,1920.

Applioetlonled November 4, 1918. Serial No. 261,103.

To all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. SOHO- FIELD, of Salem, in the county of Roanoke and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Cutting Attachments` for igarette-Machines, of which the following is a specification. a

This invention relates to improvements in attachments for cigarette machine, and the object of the invention is to provide a cutting mechanism capable of being attached to any cigarette machine and by which the cigarettes may be cut from the continuously moving cigarette rod as fast as the machine makes said rod. The invention, in its preferable embodiment, is shown in the drawings forming part hereof, and it will now be hereinafter described and then definitely claimed.

In the aforesaid drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a machine showing my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken at right angles to that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the cutter shaft and its connected parts.

Referring now to the details of the drawings by numerals: 1 designates a main shaft of the cigarette machine (not shown) from which power is used to drive the attachment forming my invention. Power is transmitted from said shaft 1 by means of the bevel gearing 2 and 3 to the shaft 4. Fixed to said shaft 4 is a gear 6 which meshes with a coinpanion gear 7 which is fixed to and drives a shaft 5 upon which is secured a spiral gear 8. The latter meshes with a similar spiral gear 9 on a shaft 10 to which shaft is also fixed Gears 12 and 14 and a cam 16, all of which therefore rotate together (see Fig. 2). The aforesaid gear 14 meshes with a gear 18 on the exterior of a sleeve 20 and the cutter shaft 22 passes eccentrically through this sleeve 20 and has secured to it a wide faced gear 24 near its rear end, a rotary cutter 23 being fixed to its opposite end (see Fig. 1). From this construction it is apparent that as the cutter shaft revolves (eccentrically) with the sleeve 20, it is given a planetary movement, since it revolves with the sleeve 20 and at the saine time is rotated on its axis by means of its wide faced gear 24 meshing with the gear 12 before referred to. .This last mentioned gear 12 is eccentrically mounted on its shaft so as to be always in gear with the wide faced gear 24. The aforesaid cam 16 has its peripheral edge engaging the grooved end 19 of the cutter shaft so as to cause said shaft to move longitudinally, the shaft moving back and forth through the aforesaid sleeve 20, the latter having no lateral movement but only a rotary movement. At the same time the cutter shaft is also compelled to move longitudinally with its wide faced gear 2 4. Near the free end of the cutter shaft is a hanger 40 supportingthe cigarette bell 42 and a ledger'plate 44. The cam 16, which has been referred to as moving the Wide faced gear 24 and the cutter shaft longitudinally to move the rotary knife 23 in one 'direction with the cigarette rod and return it in lthe opposite direction to which the cigarette rod moves, is also eccentrically mounted upon its shaft so as to'always be in rolling contact in the grooved end 19 of the cutter shaft.

The effect of this construction is to move the cutter shaft and its cutter forward with the cutter rod for practically half the length of a cigarette, when, owing to the planetary movement given to vthe cutter Ilrod, by the sleeve 20, said cutter shaft and its cutter make a sudden dip, and as the` cutter is rotating on its own axis as it makes the dip as part of its eccentric movement, the cutter descends while moving in the same direction and at a speed the same as the cigarette rod, thereby cutting 0E the cigarette. At this moment, while moving at the same speed as the cigarette rod, the eccentric movement given by the sleeve 20 moves the cutter and its cutter shaft upwardly fromthe cigarette rod, thus freeing the latter, at which point the cam has so moved as to be ready to begin the returning movement. The peculiar arl rangement shown causes the cutter shaft and the latter it will be seen that the sleeve 20 is mounted in ball bearings 48 and 50 so that it can have rotary movement only in said bearings, and that, in the eccentric bore of said sleeve 20, there are bearings 52 and 54, which permit the cutter shaft to have both rotary and longitudinal movement therein. It will also be observed that on the cutter shaft, just to the right of the cutter as viewed in Fig. 4, there isA a sleeve 56 which travels longitudinally with the cutter shaft and slides over the projecting end 53 of the bearing 52, so as to prevent, as far as pos* sible, foreign particles from entering the bearings as the shaft moves in and out with respect to the sleeve 20, and to also serve as -a sort of dash pot to absorb the momentum of the cutter shaft. At the other end of the cutter shaft, the wide faced gear 24 which is keyed to the shaft has a sleeved end which passes over a projecting end of the bearing 54, and also serves as a dash pot to absorb the momentum of the oscillating parts. Of course as the cam moves the cutter shaft and said wide faced gear 24 to the right in Fig. 4, the wide faced gear 24 moves away from the sleeve 2O and its bearing 54. i

The hanger 40, which has been described as supporting the cigarette bell 42 and the ledger plate 44, is suspended from a longitudinally movable rod 60 (Figs. 1 and 4) and to this rod is connected an arm 62 which has its free end embracing the collar 63 on the end of the cutter shaft, so that as the cam 16 causes said cutter shaft to move longitudinally back and forth, the rod 60 and its connected cigarette bell 42 and ledger plate 44 are `compelled to move simultaneously with said cutter shaft.

As the cigarettes are cut they are shoved through the tube 64 and fall lonto a conveyer 66 of any desirable construction by which they are delivered, as may be desired.

The operation of my machine is as follows: Assuming that the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, movement being transmitted from the main shaft 1 to the shaft 4, the gears 6 and 7 cause the shaft 5 to rotate, and through the gearings 8 and 9, shaft 1() is rotated with its gears l2 and 14 and the cam 16. The gear 14 causes-the sleeve 20 to rotate, thus giving a planetary movement to the cutter shaft and simultaneously the gear 12 gives said cutter shaft a rapid rotary movement, while the cam 16 causes the cutter shaft, the cutter, the cigarette bell and the ledger plate to move to the right as viewed in F ig. 1. The planetary movement just referred to causes the cutter shaft and the cutter to suddenly dip with respect to the cigarette bell 42 and ledger plate 44 and as it is being rotated on its axis, the cutter thus moves against the cigarette rod and cuts it, said cutter during this dipping, cutting movement being moved by .to cut off another cigarette.

From the foregoing and the accompanying'drawmgs, it will be seen that I have invented a cutting mechanism that can be operated at great speed, one in which there is a small weight of material that has to be operated back and forth, and hence there is not a great mass of metal to be reciprocated and cause great stress on the workingv parts of the device. It will also be noted that the reciprocal movement of the knifeis accomplished by the use of a cam working in a groove in a collar, the latter being mounted at one end of the knife shaft. Since. the knife spindle is rotating rapidly in its bearings, the amount of force required to slide it back and forth is almost m'l, which leaves practically nothing for the cam to do but overcome the inertia of the reciprocating parts.

It will be manifest that modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, and there-v fore reference should be made to the appended claims to determine the scope of the invention. A

l/Vhat I claim as my invention is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cutter shaft and its cutter, a casing within which said cutter shaft is eccentrically journaled, means for moving said shaft back and forth within said casing, and means for imparting a rotary .motion to said casing and thereby giving an eccentric movement to the cutter shaft.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cutter shaft and its cutter, a cigarette bell and ledger plate, a

grooved part at the end of said cutter shaft,

iso

part for moving the shaft longitudinally Within said casing, and means for imparting a rotary motion to said casing and thereby giving an eccentric movement to the cutter shaft.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cutter shaft and its cutter, a casing Within which said cutter shaft is eccentrically journaled, means for rotating said casing whereby the cutter shaft is given an eccentric movement, a gear located near the end of said cutter shaft, a cam for moving said gear and said shaft longitudinally back and forth with respect to said casing, an eccentricallylmounted gear meshing With the gear on the end of said cutter shaft, and a cigarette bell and ledger plate movable back and forth with said cutter and its shaft the rotation of the aforesaid casing causing the cutter to dip with respect to said ledger plate, the cam causing the cutter shaft and its cutter to move longitudinally back and forth in said casing, and the eccentric gear causing the shaft to rotate on` its axis asit is given an eccentric motion.

5. In a device of the character' described, the combination of a cutter shaft and its cutter, a casing Within which said cutter shaft is eccentrically journaled, means for rotating said casing whereby the cutter shaft is given an eccentric movement, a gear located near the end of said cutter shaft, a

cam for moving said gear and said shaft longitudinally back and forth with respect to said casing, a cigarette bell and ledger' plate, and a hanger for supporting the same in coperative relationship with said cutter, the hanger and the cutter shaft being connected together so that they move simultaneously.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cutter shaft and its cutter, a casing within Which said cutter shaft is cccentrically journaled, bearings within said casing, and a sleeve projecting from the aforesaid cutter into and closing the opening in the casing and sliding over the projecting end of the bearing.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cutter shaft and its cutter, a casing within which said cutter shaft is eccentrically journaled, bearings within said casing each having a projecting end, a sleeve projecting from the aforesaid cutter closing the opening in one end 'of the casing and sliding over one of said projecting ends, and a,` gear connected With said shaft and having a recess within Which the projecting end of the opposite bearing slides.

In testimony whereof I afxrmy signature in presence, of a Witness.

EREDERICK C. SCHOFIELD. I'Vitness:

C, B. PATTERSON. 

